A JOINT strategy for stamping out crime and anti-social behaviour will be discussed at a town hall meeting next week. Council, police, health and community representatives will tell residents about the progress of Hyndburn's crime audit. The audit was
A FAMILY were forced to flee early today after a fire ripped through their Blackburn home. Four adults and a 15 month old baby escaped from their blazing home in Worcester Road, Whitebirk around 3.30am. The blaze was started after a chip pan was left
A PRIMARY school judged to be failing its pupils by Ofsted inspectors two years ago has been praised for raising standards. Inspectors have decided Wensley Fold CE Primary School, Manor Road, Blackburn, no longer needs the special measures introduced
THE people of Blackburn and Darwen are being encouraged to learn a new skill for the new millennium. Leading local personalities are backing the campaign - including Blackburn MP and Home Secretary Jack Straw who has vowed to brush up on his French. The
BUSINESSMAN John Turkington looks to have paid around £200,000 to join Ray Ingleby in investing in the Clarets' rights issue. Yesterday evening's deadline passed with investors pledging to buy £3.8 million worth of shares. And although it hasn't been
A HEROIN addict was murdered because he was forcing fellow addicts to hand over drugs and money, a crown court heard. Paul Rothwell was shot at close range in his Blackburn home just minutes after smoking crack cocaine with two fellow drug addicts and
Special report, by Peter White WHEN Jeff Kenna became the seventh Blackburn Rovers player to be dismissed this season, it begged a question - villains or victims? Are Rovers an ill-disciplined bunch collecting their rightful come-uppance? Or is there
A SPEAKER'S corner was planned as part of Accrington town centre's new pedestrianised area on Broadway as part of a £90,000 facelift. Hyndburn's Mayor, Coun Cliff Westell, said he would also like to see entertainment in the town centre. "I want people
A YOUNG policeman was held at gunpoint and handcuffed to his patrol car after stumbling across a gang of armed robbers in a parked taxi on Broadhead Road, near Edgworth. PC David Wilson, of Darwen police, was threatened with a shotgun when he began routine
DESPITE being on the brink of announcing a pay award for nurses which is nearly double the rate of inflation - and as high as 11 per cent for newly-qualified ones - Tony Blair is unlikely to inspire a rush of new recruits to work on the beleaguered wards
DENIS Underwood has been appointed manager of Great Harwood Town following the sacking of Ian McGarry at the weekend. Former Clitheroe boss Underwood will meet the players tomorrow night and take charge of the struggling Unibond First Division side against
UNLIKE some of your other motoring correspondents, I would object strongly to the indignity of being breathalysed when I have not been drinking and have committed no traffic offence. Why should I be treated like a criminal just for driving my car? Other
IN recent weeks, you have reported how work on the sewers along the A666 in Darwen has created havoc for those who use the road, but your latest article (LET, January 21) graphically showed just what the local community has to face. Properties on Blackburn
A FURIOUS farmer trying to track down a dog who savaged and killed at least 11 sheep today warned: "He's got the taste for blood". Arthur Nutter, who lives in Fence but farms out of nearby Spenbrook, Newchurch-in-Pendle, recovered the bodies of four dead
A STATE-of-the-art casualty unit at Burnley General Hospital is now offering patients better care. But although work on the £445,000 remodelling scheme is now complete, a further £445,000 programme in another six months will begin to extend and improve
CRIME victims in Burnley are much more likely to be burgled than beaten up. Burglary, much of it to raise money for drugs, is Burnley's biggest crime and by some way the highest in Lancashire. A public meeting on crime and disorder in Burnley was told
A RACE night will be held tomorrowat the Alma Inn, Manchester Road, Baxenden to raise money for Only Foals and Horses. The Oswaldtwistle animal sanctuary is battling against closure and has launched an appeal to raise £190,000 by next month. New licensees
THE body of a 23-year-old Great Harwood man, burnt to death on Sunday, cannot be released for burial in Pakistan until police and medical inquiries have been completed. Opening an inquest into the death of Parvez Hussein Shah, of Princess Street, coroner
A FORMER council worker found dead at the bottom of the stairs of his Nelson home was killed by alcohol poisoning, an inquest heard. A post-mortem examination on Robert Halstead, 50, of Larch Street, found 660mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, more than
IN THE light of a recent occurrence, there seems plenty to be said in favour of the government campaign to ensure children are not abducted as they walk to school. Among the measures being urged on parents this week by public health minister Tessa Jowell
The opinions expressed by John Blunt are not necessarily those of this newspaper JOINING Cabinet enforcer Jack Cunningham, Health Secretary Frank Dobson and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in the ministerial Concorde Club, the newest member Geoff Hoon, Minister
THE FUTURE is green for campaigners who are celebrating after mobile telephone company Orange agreed to restore the landscape surrounding their homes. The trio from Kelvin Street, Darwen, have fought for 12 weeks to have five wooden electricity poles
GRIME-BUSTER Joe Fielding had sparkling success at the Tidy Britain silver broom awards at Ewood Park. The 55-year-old council sweeper, who cleans the Brookhouse area of Blackburn, was named runner-up in the North West and presented with an engraved trophy
MOTORISTS who park in "stupid" places near a hospital were today issued with a get tough message from police who blasted: "We will tow you away". Drivers have been warned that inconsiderate parking on street corners near Blackburn Royal Infirmary could
LIBERAL Democrat councillors in Blackburn and Darwen have condemned the closure of two housing offices in the borough. Housing chiefs at Blackburn town hall were bombarded with complaints from residents in the Shadsworth and Roman Road areas when they
A YOUNGSTER left paralysed after an horrific road accident has lost the battle against his injuries - nearly 10 years after the smash which left him brain damaged and unable to speak. Peter MacBenn, then aged 13, was out riding his bike when he was in
BLACKBURN Rovers look set to sell skipper Tim Sherwood to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of around £4 million. And, at the same time, Jason McAteer could be heading to Ewood from Liverpool as the two clubs have agreed a similar fee. But the move will depend
Hyndburn Speakers Club meet Accrington Town Hall, 7.30pm. Guests and prospective members are welcome. "The Search Within" - an open invitation to experience group meditation from different traditions, meet in Nazareth Unitarian Chapel, Padiham, 8pm. Blackburn
A DRUG addict knifeman sank his teeth into a policewoman's elbow and told her: "You have got Aids now." Burnley Crown Court heard how Tyrone Bridges, 26, confronted four people with a "ferocious-looking," six-inch weapon, and then set upon the officer
PEEL Holdings have committed themselves to ice hockey at Blackburn Arena and believe youth development will be the key to a bright future. Fans have expressed their concern that the Blackburn Hawks could be about to fold. But the Arena owners and management
THERE is much argument over what some folk wear - clothes, tattoos body-piercing knick-knacks, etc. - especially when the choice of many adolescents is designed to be outrageous (LET, January 20). There has always been a generation clash, with belligerent
TOWN hall bosses today denied they were dragging their feet in compensation negotiations with Burnley market hall tenants. The tenants say they are considering withholding service charges amounting to several thousand pounds a week because the three-year
IN your article, "Boot camp stay was a 'living hell,'" (LET, January 16), Andrew Blackwell suggested that life on the High Intensity Training programme (not 'boot camp') was far from rosy, citing cases of bullying, drug dealing and poor security. Having
A DRIVER stopped in a police spot check turned out to have been banned for two years, Burnley magistrates heard. John James Pedder, 26, thought he was entitled to have his licence back, his solicitor told the court. Pedder, of Claire Street, Burnley,
A NEW detector is set to sniff out school pupils enjoying a crafty smoke in the school toilets The Cig-Arrete device, which is sensitive enough to detect tiny amounts of tobacco smoke, was developed for use in industry but headteachers were quick to realise
RESIDENTS in two of the borough's poorest areas are being invited to back a bid for government funds. People in Huncoat and Netherton, Great Harwood, will be asked for their views on Hyndburn Council's application for single regeneration budget money
Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy ANYONE writing down their 1998 walking and watching memories must include rain, rain, rain and yet more rain. It was not, therefore, a good year for butterflies, although in August I came across a field near Pendle which
HERE we have folk dying on trolleys in hospital corridors, intensive care beds not to be had at all and refrigeration lorries used as overflow mortuaries and our family doctors are trampling all over Frank Dobson's restrictions on the prescribing of Viagra
ANIMAL lover Josephine Robinson is warning other pet owners to be on their guard after her cat was poisoned. She has sent letters to neighbours in Rudyard Drive, Darwen, urging them to check their gardens for anything toxic such as weedkiller and slug
A HEROIN addict was murdered because he was forcing fellow addicts to hand over drugs and money, a crown court heard. Paul Rothwell was shot at close range in his Blackburn home just minutes after smoking crack cocaine with two fellow drug addicts and
PUPILS had some extra special visitors to help celebrate Eid. Blackburn Rovers mascot Roar and Christie the bear from the Christie Hospital in Manchester, went along to St Michael with St John's Primary School, Blackburn, to help the children celebrate
